Wednesday, February 29, 2012

I really enjoy messing around with textures in my photos...really gets the creative juices flowing. I used three textures for this photo. The first texture I added had the cracks in it that I used across the mountains in the background, I then added some textures with some color and "texture" to add to the rest of the photo to get that "painted" feeling. I masked out the other two textures from the background as it ended up covering the mountains. I then grouped all of my layers into one group, and changed the blend mode to "screen" to brighten the entire photo, and changed the opacity of that layer so that it was not too bright, and masked out the areas that I didn't want affected. Sharpened a bit, and that is it...done. Took me about 20 minutes...

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

So I was going through my photos from Singapore last night. I came across the one at the bottom. I had to shoot through a fence to get this photo, and was shooting directly into the sun. I knew it would be a silhouette, but I wanted to capture the details of the clouds. I didn't think the photo would come out, but took it anyway. When I had a look at the photo again, I thought it might make a nice black n white...so, I cropped it, cleaned up all the dust spots (Is my CCD incredibly dirty or what?), then converted to Black n White using Nik's Silver Efex Pro. That is an amazing little plug-in, and by just scrolling through all of the presets they have, it can be difficult to decide which one to use. In any case, the black n white conversion actually saved an image that I think would have ended up in my "delete" folder...

This is my final version...

This is the photo right out from the camera...notice all of the dust spots?

Monday, February 27, 2012

I was in Singapore the past 4 days. I thought I would be able to update the blog while I was there, but got so busy, I was not able to get a spare moment on the computer. It was a great weekend though!! I tried to get down to the Marina Bay Sands during their laser light show, but didn't make it...I will be back in Singapore at the end of March, so will try again.

This photo (below) is from the bird market. I liked the "green" in the building, and all the birds chirping away...nothing special in the processing...some sharpening and a curves adjustment to bring out the green!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

So, I paid the money to get inside "The Egg" in Beijing. It was almost closing time, but I just wanted to get in, take some photos, and get out. It actually turned out to be the perfect time to go, as there were hardly any people inside. When I got to the top, they had the area roped off...so, I couldn't get a photo of the big "red thing" that was hanging from the ceiling. I asked the security guard if I could just go up for a quick photo, but he waved to me saying "NO"....so, I walked to the other side where there was no guard standing by, and climbed under the ropes, and snuck upstairs...I felt like a bad little kid going where he wasn't supposed to go...grabbed a photo, and snuck my way back. When I climbed under the ropes, some western tourists saw me...they gave me a nasty look, but I just pretended I knew what I was doing, and walked past them to the exit...what a bad boy I am...

I did have my tripod with me, and no-one gave me any hassle using it inside. This is a 5-shot HDR...tonemapped in Photomatix, and then I finished it off in Photoshop...What did I do in Photoshop? Well, I did some sharpening, and I also created a mask with my darkest exposure to bring back the detail in the window above....it was blown out after creating the HDR. I then added a "glow" using Nik's Color Efex Pro (Glamour Glow), but changed the opacity to the filter so that it was not too "glowy" if you know what I mean...

Monday, February 20, 2012

The colors for Indonesia are Red and White, so I thought this door was perfect for an Indonesian scene. No special processing was done for this photo. I opened it in Light Room, and made some minor adjustments which included cropping the sides...

Friday, February 17, 2012

I was asked to take the photo of a Dance Team, but it was an unusual request. Their dance takes place in a pool, so they wanted their photo inside a small kiddie pool. There was no place to put up lights, so I had to use natural light for the photo. I used to think putting the group into the sun was the best thing when using natural light, but I have learned over the years that using the sun is a bad idea...too many shadows to contend with, and harsh light...so, I set up the pool in the shade where the light is even and there were no shadows to deal with...I got up on a ladder, and shot downward with my 18mm lens. I then added some texture to the photo to cover up the plain, boring floor around the pool and to add some color...then of course, masked out the dancers...but I left in some texture on the pool...

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Thanks for all the nice comments yesterday. I really am keen on changing what I do here on this blog, and make it more interesting to those who stop by here....and maybe eventually, I will get more traffic coming here as a bonus.

Hey, guess what? It is my birthday today! I turned the big FIVE-O...I guess I am now officially an old man...but sure don't feel like one...still feel like I am in my twenties!! Hope that lasts...hehe...

So...about this photo...

As you know, my trip to China was dampened (literally) by the foggy, rainy, cold weather. On our cruise down the Li River, we could barely see the hills. So, many of my photos had a lack of "light" in them (we didn't see the sun for 10 days), and the skies were pretty plain. This sets up the perfect opportunity to blend some textures into the photo to add some drama to an otherwise drab looking photograph. So how did I do that?

Step 1: When you are out walking around with your camera, take photos of interesting looking textures....I now have a collection of almost 300 textures...look for nice cracks, colors and other interesting textures...you can use these later to create. Warning: people might look at you in a strange way taking photos of walls, but just ignore them...

Step 2: Choose a texture to add to your photo. This is the creative part...do you want to add some color, some texture, some pattern, a special effect, some cracks? Different textures will do different things to your photo...you will be adding another layer to your photo, so just experiment...if it doesn't work, delete the layer and try another texture.

Step 3: Add the texture to your photo by creating a new layer. Use the free transform tool to re-size the texture so that it is the same size as your photograph.

Step 4: Change the blend mode of your texture. I like overlay, soft light or hard light, but give them all a try and see what you like best. You can then change the opacity of the layer.

Step 5: Use a mask to "paint out" what you don't want to show.

Step 6: Add some other textures on top, and then repeat steps 4 and 5.

The possibilities are infinite. You can also change your textures with some filters, change the colors of your textures, darken or lighten them...up to you. Experiment, and have fun!

For this photo, I added two textures....I used softlight as my blend mode for both, and I masked out the "cracks" in the mountains. After I was happy with the textures and masking, I softened the entire image by applying a slight gaussian blur to dull the textures. I then masked out the blur in the trees, and sharpened...but only sharpened the trees (used a mask on that as well).

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

I have been thinking a great deal about my blog the last few days. I started this blog back in 2006. I mainly started it to better communicate with my family back in the States, and to share family photos with them. We were also building our house at the time, so I wanted to show my parents and sisters the progress on our house. After a while, I started posting my best photos on the blog, and it turned more into a "photo" blog instead of a "family" blog....so, I started a new "family" blog, and turned this blog into the "photo blog" it is today.

My problem now? It seems to be stagnant as far as traffic is concerned...It has grown a great deal in the past 6 years, but it seems to have stopped growing, and I am not sure what to do about it. So, after some research and thinking about my own behavior, and why I visit some blogs and not others, I have come to some conclusions about "human blog behavior"

People like pretty pictures, but pretty pictures are not enough...what people really want is free stuff and free advice...they want to become better photographers and they look for sites that can help them do that...they also want attention, and to be noticed. So, it seems obvious to me that the future of this blog must move in the direction of what people really want. I am very thankful to those of you that follow my blog on an almost daily basis, but I really fear that you will leave me if I continue on this same track of only posting pretty pictures, so I promise to make some changes...soon. This is what I would like to do...

(1) Blogger has been great, and easy to use, and I think my blog looks nice, but it is limiting in what I can offer my readers...and I think most pro-photographers don't use Blogger...I might be wrong with that, but it seems to me most professional photographers use Word Press or have a custom designed website/blog....I need to move in that direction too.

(2) Provide FREE tutorials

(3) Provide good advice on camera equipment

(4) Provide more information on how I created the photos I post

(5) Always maintain a personal touch. I can think of a couple of blogs that I used to really like, but have liked less and less as time goes by...the reason? They have lost their personal touch...they become too commercial...they start name-dropping, they become money hungry, and they forget about the approach they had in the beginning that made them popular to begin with. I hope this blog, or I, don't end up being like that.

I welcome any comments or suggestions you might have...

Ah, the photo below...

This is my wife, Tika and my daughter, Kayla. We were walking through a small village in China, when I saw this writing on the wall...I have no idea what is says (any of you read Chinese?), but thought it was a cool background, so asked them to pose for me. My daughter is such a natural poser, and struck this pose with Tika...I used Silver Efex Pro2 to convert to a black n white...

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

This is another shot from the bird market. I was trying to capture the "action" that was going on around this place...people running around, bird cages EVERYWHERE, and the "shopping" that was taking place. What I couldn't capture was the smells and sounds...the smell not so great, but the sounds of all those birds chirping and making their individual calls were amazing.

When I walked outside of the market, I was trying to capture people just hanging out near the bird cages...but this guy...this "dude"....was giving me the evil eye the entire time...so, I just pretended that I was taking a photo of all the cages...after I took a couple of shots, a big grin from ear to ear appeared on the guy's face....whew....what a relief...he doesn't look like the kind of "dude" you would mess with...see the one I am talking about?

Monday, February 13, 2012

I had the opportunity to visit the Jakarta Bird Market this weekend, and it was incredible and sad at the same time. I have been told that there are over a thousand species of birds being sold at the market...I had never seen so many birds in one place, and so many exotic birds! The sad part is that you can go to places in the market that sell rare illegal birds such as eagles, some parrots, and hawks...I didn't go to those places, but they are there...

Friday, February 10, 2012

I was on Google+ this morning, and came across Timothy Allen's album of photos from his travels, and was just blown away. Timothy had been traveling with the BBC for their series, "The Human Planet". His photographs are perhaps the best I have ever seen!! Amazing work...Click HERE to see his photos...

I was going to post one of my own photos today, but after seeing Timothy's work, I feel embarrassed to post my own stuff...

Thursday, February 09, 2012

It's funny...when I go through my photos after a trip, I usually scan right past photos like this below. Then later, when I go through them again, I sometimes find some jewels...something about the simplicity of a photo that draws me in...this one almost made it into my "reject" pile...but it was saved...

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

I haven't used a Nikon DSLR in some time since I have been shooting with my Leica for the past year or so...but the Leica is not really good for action sports...especially swimming. I took this with the Nikon D90 and the Sigma 50-500mm lens...the "fire" is actually the reflection of the scoreboard in the pool...I like the effect...

Monday, February 06, 2012

There was a big swim meet at my school this weekend...I jumped into the pool with my scuba gear between races, and grabbed this shot...the Black n White came out much nicer than the color version (I thought)...

Thursday, February 02, 2012

We were on one of those typical tours where you follow a guide with one of those flags...I hate those kind of tours, and I always vow to myself to never get on one, but I really had no choice this time...so when the group was inside, I snuck away to walk around by myself...I wanted a shot of these big beautiful trees that lines the sidewalk...it was only moments later when the group came out of the building...which meant I had to re-join the group....arrrrgh...

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

This is from the back side of the towers where there is a park. I like the angle I posted yesterday better, but I like the perspective you get in this shot of the towers "towering" over the other buildings next to them...which are in themselves huge...

About Me

I don't know what I want to do when I grow up. I have been a helicopter pilot, a SCUBA instructor, a teacher, and a photographer.
I have been in Indonesia for the past 15 years. It has been a great ride so far, and the adventure continues to get better every day.
I hope you enjoy my photos...if you are ever in this part of the world, lets go shooting together...what are you waiting for?